News About Properties

Mercedes Homes LLC, for nearly 30 years one of Brevard County’s most prominent home builders, is ending operations two years after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

An outside executive management team brought in by the consortium of leading creditors from the bankruptcy case recently took over operations of the Suntree-headquartered company and announced its intentions to cease operations after its contracts for new homes are satisfied, though no exact timeline was provided.

The founding Buescher family, which held most top management spots at Mercedes, has not been involved in the company since late December. They are in the process of starting a new home building company to be called Mercedes Premier Homes LLC.

via Builder moves on to a new enterprise.

When his father died last summer, editor and tax preparer Danny Marcus found himself faced with an unexpected problem: figuring out what to do with his inheritance.

Marcus, 60, was both thrilled and overwhelmed by the possibilities. Should he pay off the mortgage? Buy a condo in Florida? Save more for his retirement? And if he decided to invest it, where should the money go?

Rather than try to puzzle out answers on his own, the Marblehead resident decided he needed professional help. So he applied for a Boston Globe money makeover, saying the $76,000 inheritance “is more money than I’ve ever gotten at one time in my whole life.’’

via Inheritance poses investment possibilities and puzzles.

Several years ago, we were talked into getting what I believe was a predatory loan – a negatively amortizing mortgage for 100 percent of the purchase price of our home. The loan broker assured us we could refinance the following year to a more traditional mortgage.

We paid the minimum monthly payment required, which didn’t cover all the interest owed, so that amount was added to our mortgage balance. Like others, we have experienced the nightmare of the current housing market, and with the negative amortization adding on even more debt, we are severely underwater.

We’ve worked with two companies trying to get a workable loan modification but to no avail. The bank is not cooperating at all.

via Law exempts forgiven foreclosure debt from income on tax return.

Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady shut down the state’s 2-year-old foreclosure mediation program Monday, after low success rates and criticism from both lenders and borrowers deemed the program unsustainable.

The court system, which has faced a torrent of foreclosure cases in the past several years, has seen its budgets cut and staff reduced. That combined with a rising number of foreclosure cases led to substantial backlogs for many of the court circuits around the state.

The Supreme Court’s solution was mediation, which it mandated throughout the court system.

via Florida justice shuts down foreclosure mediation program.

Board-certified real estate attorney Gary M. Singer answers housing questions in this space each Friday. To ask him a question about short sales, mortgages, refinancing, homeowner’s associations or any other residential real estate topic, click here.

Q: I am trying to complete a short sale. My lender requested a hardship letter, but I don’t know what to include in it. Can you help? – Anonymous

A: Whether you are trying to complete a short sale or apply for a loan modification or deed in lieu of foreclosure, your lender will request a letter explaining why it should grant you the relief that you are requesting. This is known as a hardship letter. The majority of hardship letters I review share common mistakes.

via Ask a real estate pro: How to write a short sale hardship letter.

Board-certified real estate attorney Gary M. Singer answers housing questions in this space each Friday.

Q: I am elderly and got involved with a rental property with the help of a family member. Now the family member is nowhere in sight, the tenant left and the mortgage is underwater. I don’t have the energy or desire to deal with it. I am on Social Security and living check to check. I can’t afford the payments, and the collections calls are raising my blood pressure. What can I do? – Anonymous

via Ask a real estate pro: Short sale or bankruptcy?.